Canadian National is reaching out to municipalities along its North American rail network to review its safety practices, share relevant information on dangerous goods traffic and discuss emergency response planning.

"A full 99.998 percent of CN and rail industry movements of dangerous goods, many of which are essential to the North American economy and communities across the continent, arrive at their destination without a release caused by an accident," said Claude Mongeau, president and chief executive. "That being said, CN understands that municipalities feel they need more transparency and information sharing from railways about the dangerous commodities moving through their communities. And that's why we launched a comprehensive outreach program last fall with communities along our network in Canada and are now launching a similar program this year in the United States."

Under the engagement program, CN is approaching municipal officials and their emergency responders to ensure that they have contact information for appropriate CN officials, as well as targeted information that will assist them in their emergency response planning. This outreach includes face-to-face meetings, during which CN's comprehensive safety programs and safety performance are discussed and emergency response planning is reviewed.

"To date, we have reached out to the vast majority of communities on our network in Canada. In addition, we've held close to 100 meetings with communities in Canada, predominantly the larger ones and will be reaching out to many more municipalities this year in both Canada and the U.S."

CN's outreach program will involve almost 1,100 communities in Canada and approximately 870 communities in the U.S.